


Honestly Boys

by ElizabethWilde



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Canon Compliant, Canonical Character Death, Coda, Destiel - Freeform, Fix-It, Get Together, Helpful Rowena MacLeod, Hints of suicidal ideation, M/M, auntie rowena, episode 15x20 coda, jack wants his dads together
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-21
Updated: 2020-11-21
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:07:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,666
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27657953
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElizabethWilde/pseuds/ElizabethWilde
Summary: Jack just wants his dads together. For some reason, they aren’t getting with the program. He goes to Rowena for help.
Relationships: Castiel/Dean Winchester
Comments: 8
Kudos: 80





	Honestly Boys

**Author's Note:**

> No beta, bare minimum proofreading. I regret nothing. I needed a little bit of happy fo

Rowena raised a perfectly sculpted eyebrow at the sound of chaos outside her royal chambers. "Something I should know, dears?" she called out into the darkness. 

"Uh, my queen, uh-"

One of her attendants scurried in on the heels of a smiling young man who looked utterly at ease. "Jack! Oh, honestly, he's family," Rowena chided the demon before waving him off and approaching the newly-minted deity. She put her hands on Jack’s shoulders and looked him over critically before beaming. "You're looking well. Divinity suits you. Ah, but, then, I suspect this isn't entirely a social visit?" She ascended the throne again and gestured for Jack to sit down in the closest available chair. 

Jack sighed, and his smile faltered. "No. I need… advice." He sat down and looked at Rowena with characteristic earnestness. 

"Oh?"

"Yes. It's Castiel."

The woman chuckled and lifted a pale hand. "Isn't it always? What's our errant angel gotten himself into now, hmm?"

Jack paused. "You heard that Dean is with us now?"

Rowena's tone turned wistful. "Aye. Word travels when a Winchester dies. I will miss his lovely face, but I thought we were discussing Castiel?"

"The two are connected," Jack answered with no hint of sarcasm or annoyance. "Before I freed him and before Castiel gave himself up to the empty, he told Dean that he loves him."

For the first time Rowena's cool amusement melted into open shock and excitement. "And what did he say? My dear, sweet boy, what in the world did Dean say back?"

"Nothing. Well, nothing about that," Jack clarified. "Time was short, so it seems understandable, but I worry that Castiel took it more personally. He still hasn't visited Dean. Not once." Frustration and sadness colored Jack's tone. "I know Dean wants to see him."

Rowena rolled her eyes. "For hell's sake! Bring Castiel here. Now, dear. I'll see to this. Your fathers are both very stubborn. Not to worry. Auntie Rowena will set things right." She flicked her fingers as though she weren’t addressing the new ruler of the universe.

True to form, Jack took it in stride. “Thank you. I tried to talk to him, but…”

“You’re young, dear. I’ve been through it all before. Have no fear.” In a breath, Jack was gone and Castiel sat in his place looking dazed and annoyed. “I’m so very glad that you’re free of the Empty. All this time, and you haven’t so much as stopped in for a cup of tea! We have more important things to discuss, though, don’t we?”

Castiel’s gaze narrowed. “We do?”

“We do, dear.” He looked much the same as always, the same vaguely rumpled silhouette and grumpy expression. It was comforting in a way. “Jack told me what happened. Well, the short version. I don’t need all the details. You told Dean you love him, you saved him heroically as one of you boys always does, he died anyway as humans always do, and now… well, now the two of you have all of eternity to enjoy one another, but Jack tells me you haven’t so much as spoken to him.”

Castiel’s back stiffened at the words and observed, “I don’t recall asking for advice.”

“You didn’t, dear, and you should have. You’re acting like a fool, not to put too fine a point on it. Why are you avoiding Dean?”

The angel looked down at the floor briefly. “He has many people to reconnect with. He needs-”

“He has eternity to reconnect. He wants to see you,” Rowena broke in, already bored with Castiel’s vague excuses. “Jack told me as much. For an angelic being who has lived for a millenia, you should be well past schoolyard foolishness and running from the man because you’re worried that he doesn’t like you back.”

“Dean is under no obligation to-”

“Of course he isn’t, but he’s been in love with you for years, you foolish creature!”

The words hit, and Castiel’s head tilted. “Why would you say that?”

“It’s beautiful that you finally told him how you feel. I’m quite proud, truly, but before that, how did you tell him that you cared? How did you show him?”

“I… protected him,” Castiel ventured uncertainly.”

“Very good. Jack said that Dean didn’t say ‘I love you’ back but that he did say something. What did he say to you?”

“He asked me not to…” The words trailed off, and Castiel blinked slowly. 

“And how many times did he ask you not to? How many times did he try his best to shield you from things?”

Castiel admitted, “Many. He did the same for Sam. He once told me that he thought of me as a brother.”

Rowena made a dismissive sound and waved the words away. “Dean Winchester never learned to process a single emotion in his life in a healthy fashion. He simply hadn’t the time nor the inclination. Now he has all the time in the world, and he wants to spend a bit of that with you. There’s a lovely boy out there driving about in a car by himself and wondering why you’ve disappeared. Go to him. He deserves his peace, and so do you.” When Castiel didn’t immediately disappear from the chair. “Castiel, I meant now. This moment.” One red tipped finger twirled in the air. “Go!”

\------+++++++++------

Dean felt the shift of energy in the car before he turned to look. He didn’t dare to hope that after driving for what felt like years but could have been minutes or hours, he might finally turn and find Cas there. At first he’d been sure Cas would pop in any second. Bobby said he was fine and working with Jack. He was busy, but he’d be along. Dean believed it. Deep in his heart, he believed it, but the more time wore on without any sign of Castiel, the less he found himself able to believe. 

“Hello, Dean.” 

The words made Dean’s heart leap for a moment. He pulled off the road, and naturally it was a rest stop. The beautiful outcropping overlooking a sparkling lake. When he finally turned to look at Castiel, he realized the lake matched Cas’ eyes. “Hey.” He wanted to say a million things at once, but none of them came at first. Dipping his head, Dean started with the hardest part. “I’m sorry I didn’t… didn’t make it worth what you gave up, Cas. Couldn’t even stay alive-”

Castiel’s face was positively stricken when Dean looked back up. “Did you think I was angry with you?”

“I- maybe? I hadn’t seen you, Cas, and I didn’t know what the hell to think. Tell a guy you love him, then you go and die, and when I’m finally here and you’re here and…” Dean threw his hands up in the air and then let them fall back on the steering wheel. The safe neutrality of the position made him feel marginally better. “I didn’t know why you weren’t here. I know I’m not the only thing goin’ in the universe, Cas, I do, but… radio silence? After that?”

It struck Castiel in that moment that Rowena had been absolutely and entirely correct. “I should have been here,” he agreed quietly. “I never meant to make you feel abandoned. I intended to give you the time you needed.”

Dean’s shoulders relaxed, and he let his hands fall from the wheel. “I don’t need time, Cas, I need you.” He waited until Castiel finally looked at him again and offered a faint smile. “If I wasn’t a mess, maybe I could’ve said something right away and this would’ve been easier, but I’m a mess. Always have been. I didn’t think about saying it, I thought about how much I didn’t want to lose my best friend and- and how it wasn’t fair. It wasn’t fair to know how you felt and then lose you. Maybe I was mad at you for leaving, but just for a minute. I’ve lost you before. I’ve lost you before, and it...“ Dean didn’t let himself grab the steering wheel again. He forced himself to keep eye contact with Cas despite every instinct telling him to run. “Maybe I didn’t fight as hard as I could’ve there at the end. I was tired of good enough. I was tired of okay. I was tired of…” The tears spilled over, and Dean reached out toward Castiel’s face. He let his fingertips touch one stubbled cheek as if checking to see whether he was real. “I was tired of not having you when I knew I could have.” 

A deluge of grief and pain and elation and guilt all crashed over Cas at once. He blinked through tears of his own. “I didn’t know.”

“Yeah. I know, Cas.” Dean’s touch grew less tentative, and his hand fell to Castiel’s neck, thumb still stroking his cheek. “Can I kiss you?” He waited for a brief, dazed nod in response and then leaned in. The wide seat felt a million miles long as Dean closed the distance between them and pressed a gentle kiss to Castiel’s lips. “I love you too, Cas.” 

“I think I should have known that.”

“Yeah, well, we’re both dumbasses.”

“I prefer blinded by love,” Cas answered with a hint of a smile. “Less dumb, less ass.”

Dean stole another kiss and grinned. “I dunno, we see this thing through, the ass part-”

“Do you really need to cheapen the moment?” 

“Yes, absolutely.”

“I love you.”

“I love you too, Dean.”

\------+++++++++------

“Rowena! They-”

“Of course they did, dear.” Rowena smiled indulgently down at Jack. “They always would have, but knowing them, it would have taken another decade. Time may pass differently up there, but, honestly, who has the patience?”

Jack smiled brightly at her. “Thank you.”

“For you? Always. Go tell your fathers they have my congratulations… and that they owe me one.” Even when Jack disappeared from the room, Rowena kept right on smiling.


End file.
